Author: My First Million

  • Dopamine Fasts, Cruise Ship Investing, and Elon Musk vs. Jeff Bezos Feuds with Andrew Wilkinson, Co-Founder of Tiny

    Andrew Wilkinson (@awilkinson), Co-Founder of Tiny, joins Sam Parr (@theSamParr) and Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) to talk about how he found joy through a four-week dopamine fast, why it can be better to make safer “cruise ship investments” rather than startup investments, how Andrew’s last appearance led him to start a D2C maternal healthy company, and much more.

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    * Do you love MFM and want to see Sam and Shaan’s smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.

    * Want more insights like MFM? Check out Shaan’s newsletter.

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    Show Notes:

    * 00:20 – Andrew’s monk-like retreat from technology

    * 01:45 – What triggered his “digital meltdown”

    * 09:20 – The power of a 4-week dopamine fast

    * 22:40 – Why Andrew bought Aeropress

    * 30:45 – “Cruise ship investing” vs “speed boat investing”

    * 37:30 – The benefits (or lack thereof) of being famous

    * 39:33 – How coming on MFM led Andrew to be able to start a DTC pregnancy health company

    * 49:15 – Readwise and the Feynman method for learning

    * 52:41 – The pitfall of constant optimization

    * 01:07:35 – When Andrew met Steve Jobs

    * 01:17:32 – Elon Musk & Jeff Bezos’s Twitter beef

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    Links: 

    * Tiny

    * JoelOnSoftware.com

    * Wanting

    * Readwise

    * Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage

    * Elon Musk & Jeff Bezos Thread

  • Near Death Accidents, Hitting $1B ARR, and Selling Like the Grateful Dead with Brian Halligan, Founder & Executive Chairman of HubSpot

    Brian Halligan (@BHalligan), founder & executive chairman (and former CEO) of HubSpot, joins Sam (@TheSamParr) and Shaan (@ShaanVP) to discuss what he learned from nearly dying in a snowmobile accident, how he took HubSpot from nothing to $1 billion in ARR, and what he learned about marketing from the Grateful Dead. He also discusses what he does day-to-day, why he has always preferred inbound marketing, how to manage creatives, and much more.

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    * Do you love MFM and want to see Sam and Shaan’s smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.

    * Want more insights like MFM? Check out Shaan’s newsletter.

    ———

    Show Notes:

    * (1:37) Brian’s snowmobiling accident that nearly killed him

    * (7:18) How Brian’s life has changed since

    * (13:07) What Brian actually does day-to-day

    * (28:39) Why has always Brian preferred inbound marketing

    * (32:00) Businesses that can be built on top of HubSpot

    * (33:34) Org chart business opportunities

    * (36:14) Climate Tech Opportunities

    * (50:50) How to Manage Creatives

    * (55:35) What the Grateful Dead can teach us about marketing

  • How Brumate Made $20M with 0 Employees, Why Carpet Cleaning is the Perfect Teenager Side Hustle, How to Do an Energy Audit, Shahid Khan is the Billy of the Week, and More

    Sam Parr (@theSamParr) and Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) discuss Brumate, the company that scaled to $20M without a single employee, how F*** You Pay Me is helping influencers discover what they’re truly worth, how to do an energy audit, and much more.

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    * Do you love MFM and want to see Sam and Shaan’s smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel

    * Want more insights like MFM? Check out Shaan’s newsletter

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    Show Notes:

    0:00 – Recapping Rob Dyrdek and when to work to be most productive

    10:35 – How to do an “energy audit”

    12:50 – Brumate – the company making $20M with 0 employees

    17:40 – Companies making businesses selling water bottles

    19:45 – How MVMT sold for $100M+

    21:50 – Shaan will start a coconut water brand with you

    26:47 – Carpet cleaner businesses – the perfect teenager side hustle

    29:35 – The life-changing power of making your first side-hustle dollar

    31:40 – Billy of the Week: Shahid Khan

    40:55 – F*** You Pay Me – how influencers are getting paid

    44:00 – How to make better investor updates

    48:00 – Sam’s update on becoming a fitness influencer

    54:25 – Why Shaan gets free merch and Sam doesn’t

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    Links:

    * vcguide.co

    * F*** You Pay Me

    * MVMT

    * Brumate

    * Cabal

  • 3 Patterns for Great Business Ideas with Jack Abraham, Founder, Managing Partner & CEO at Atomic

    Jack Abraham (@jackabraham), Founder, Managing Partner & CEO at Atomic, sits down with MFM hosts Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@theSamParr) to talk frameworks for great business ideas, how one hour can have more impact than everything else you’ve done in your career, the Jenga law of time management, and much more.

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    * Do you love MFM and want to see Sam and Shaan’s smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel

    * Want to found a company with Jack? Check out Atomic VC Future Founders

    * Want more insights like MFM? Check out Shaan’s newsletter

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    Show Notes:

    * (1:06) How Shaan originally met Jack

    * (3:20) The secret to startup studio success

    * (5:22) Why Jack has banned brainstorming sessions

    * (23:30) Top lessons learned from the greatest VCs in Silicon Valley

    * (28:22) The Jenga Law of time management

    * (33:30) Crazy ideas Jack decided not to pursue

    * (41:32) Patterns behind great business ideas

    * (53:56) The value of focusing on one thing vs having your hands in a lot of things

    * (59:40) Jack’s views on the future of crypto

  • #224 – How Tracking Every Second of His Life Took Rob Dyrdek from 0 to $405M in Exits

    Rob Dyrdek (@robdyrdek), founder & CEO of venture studio Dyrdek Machine, former professional skateboarder, and star of hit shows like Rob & Big and Ridiculousness, joins Sam (@TheSamParr) and Shaan (@ShaanVP) to discuss how he transitioned from acting and athletics to venture capital and how he structures his many business interests. He also talks about how he structures his life to achieve maximum human optimization, why he’s glad he didn’t have TikTok growing up, and much more.

    Show Notes:

    * (00:57) Why Ridiculousness is always on MTV

    * (11:35) How Rob structures his business, money, and time

    * (16:49) How Rob tracks his time with custom scripts

    * (26:22) The transition from skater kid to human optimization

    * (35:40) The value of opening your finances

    * (44:16) Why Rob is glad he didn’t have TikTok growing up

    * (58:29) Why Rob is trying to create a “Drake equation” for business

    Links:

    * Rob’s Podcast: https://dyrdekmachine.com/build-with-rob

  • #223 – Sam & Shaan Bet $500, Ozy Media Scam, Why Google is Dying, and More

    In this episode Sam (@theSamParr) and Shaan (@ShaanVP) discuss the latest news on the unfolding Ozy Media story, discuss why Google might not be a dominant tech giant in ten years, and place a bet on whether Shaan can make $10k in a day with a mall Santa scheme.

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    Show notes:

    * (1:00) How to explain My First Million

    * (2:53) Why furniture-less design is the new style

    * (9:46) Shady sh*t of the week: Ozy Media

    * (19:44) The research power of Newspapers.com 

    * (30:37) Blue-collar side hustle: Mall Santas

    * (38:46) Sam and Shaan make a $500 bet

    * (40:40) Royalty-free music and its AI-generated future

    * (43:04) Why NerdWallet persisted

    * (53:13) Why big companies shut down products worth $10s of millions

    * (58:48) Why Google and Facebook employees are soft

  • SPECIAL: Peter Diamandis on the Longevity Opportunity, Bitcoin’s Bull Case and Musk vs. Bezos

    About: Peter Diamandis is the Founder & Executive Chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions. He is also the Executive Founder and Director of Singularity University, a global learning and innovation community using exponential technologies to tackle the world’s biggest challenges and build a better future for all.

    As an entrepreneur, Diamandis has started over 20 companies in the areas of longevity, space, venture capital, and education. He is also co-founder of BOLD Capital Partners, a venture fund with $500m investing in exponential technologies. Diamandis earned degrees in Molecular Genetics and Aerospace Engineering from MIT and holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

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    * Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/

    * Support the pod by spreading the word, become a referrer here: https://refer.fm/million

    * Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas.

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    Show notes:

    * (1:02) Peter’s background

    * (5:07) The science of longevity

    * (10:26) What are the sub-verticals in longevity?

    * (14:47) How long can humans live?

    * (18:49) Will longevity lead to overpopulation?

    * (23:09) How living to 130 will affect finance

    * (24:34) Why Peter is investing in Bitcoin

    * (33:53) The intersection of Bitcoin and longevity

    * (34:40) Will there be a crypto Xprize?

    * (35:34) Peter’s space career (including the first XPrize)

    * (40:12) Why SpaceX’s achievements are so impressive

    * (42:20) Musk vs. Bezos

    * (46:53) The importance of mindset

    * (53:34) How to change your media diet

    * (56:31) What is the superpower for Musk, Bezos, Larry Page, Richard Branson?

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    Links mentioned in podcast: 

    * XPrize (https://www.xprize.org/)

    * Peter’s newsletter (https://www.diamandis.com/subscribe)

    * Futureloop (https://www.futureloop.com/)

    * Peter Diamandis website (https://www.diamandis.com/)

    * Peter’s Bitcoin webinar with Michael Saylor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFxEM29LyeE)

    * Peter interviews Elon Musk for the $100m carbon removal Xprize (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN88HPUm6j0)

  • #222 – How to Get a Slice of Harvard’s Billion Dollar Case Study Industry

    In this episode Sam (@theSamParr) and Shaan (@ShaanVP) break down Harvard’s publishing arm and how you can create something to get a slice of the action. Sam also shares how he would approach Trends if he were to make it again. They also talk about the end of the MFM NFT auction and Shaan recaps a LinkedIn post about the early days of Canva.

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    * Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/

    * Support the pod by spreading the word, become a referrer here: https://refer.fm/million

    * Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas.

    * The Canva story – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/21-questions-from-aussie-startups-highs-lows-lessons-learned-perkins/

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    Show notes:

    * (0:59) Shaan is jacked

    * (2:53) Strength correlations to longevity

    * (11:02) The MFM NFT

    * (15:06) Harvard Business Review

    * (25:35) Getting in on the case study game

    * (31:37) Other spaces to make this work

    * (34:58) Maybe don’t fake it til you make it

    * (39:50) On investor due diligence

    * (45:33) Don’t be this guy

    * (53:42) The long path for Canva’s success

  • #221 – How to Make Millions With a Modern Day Infomercial

    In this episode Shaan (@ShaanVP) and Sam (@theSamParr) break down a 30-year-old infomercial and they discuss the modern day approach that can make you millions. They also talk about businesses built around trust, professional certifications, and what investors Shaan would call first if he was raising. You’ll also meet a serial entrepreneur who is this weeks’ Internet Founder of the Week.

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    * Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/

    * Support the pod by spreading the word, become a referrer here: https://refer.fm/million

    * Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas.

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    Show notes:

    * (0:57) Meet a future guest

    * (4:34) Building a business around trust

    * (9:17) The problem with content businesses

    * (12:25) Subscription opportunities for content based businesses

    * (18:30) Trust as a service businesses

    * (23:01) Someone got a little blue checkmark

    * (25:16) The health department score is BS

    * (28:34) Klout reimagined

    * (32:14) Thoughts on professional certifications

    * (34:24) Meet Matt Mickiewicz

    * (42:12) Guthy-Renker – direct marketing masters

    * (53:07) The modern day infomercial

    * (59:19) The first five investors Shaan would call

  • SPECIAL: Thomas Edison (Part 3)

    This a special release of the 3-part Thomas Edison series from the How to Take Over the World podcast with Ben Wilson.

    Description – All of my Edison notes that didn’t make it into Part 1 & Part 2, including:

    Edison vs. Tesla

    Edison vs. Elon Musk

    Puritanism and Edison

    How Edison Went Deaf (Maybe)

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    * How to Take Over the World – https://www.httotw.com/

    * Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/

    * Support the pod by spreading the word, become a referrer here: https://refer.fm/million

    * Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas.